Cano and the Yankees Are Secure in Their Decisions

At the end of the 1990s, when the Seattle Mariners lost more often than they won, their marquee player often grew exasperated when asked about the team’s struggles. Ken Griffey Jr. would sigh and say, “I bat third,” three words that spoke an essential truth about baseball.

What Griffey meant was that no matter how well he did, his job was limited. He could bat only once every nine times. He could not pitch, and he could not catch every hit. Shaquille O’Neal could touch the ball every play, and Brett Favre could take every offensive snap. All Griffey could do was bat third.

On Tuesday at Yankee Stadium, Robinson Cano batted third for the Mariners. His name could have been written in neon pen on their lineup card. Nobody else was hitting better than .242. The two players above him in the lineup, and the one behind him, combined for 25 games in the majors last season.

The Mariners, desperate to be relevant after losing half their paying customers from 2002 to 2013, signed Cano for 10 years and $240 million. He arrived in the Bronx on a seven-game hitting streak, batting .301 over all, but his team was 10-14. Only the Houston Astros averaged fewer runs a game in the American League than Seattle’s 3.79.

“It’s different,” Cano said. “New York is a team that won a lot of championships. It’s always crowded. Being in Seattle, I can’t tell you that much about Seattle. We’ve had two homestands there. I could tell you, through the year, what’s different, but right now, I can tell you one thing: I’m happy there, the way they’ve embraced me — the fans, the organization and my teammates.”

The Yankees’ fans, at least those who showed up on a frigid midweek night, did not even give Cano cursory clapping in his first at-bat. The team did not prepare a scoreboard highlight video, as the Boston Red Sox did last week for Jacoby Ellsbury. The patchy crowd booed Cano heavily.

Cano struck out on four pitches, and in the bottom of the inning, the bleacher fans chanted his name before switching to “You sold out!” Cute.

“You’re always going to hear more boos than cheers,” Cano said later, though he claimed not to notice the jeer from the bleachers. “That’s something that I can’t control. It’s not a distraction. I really have fun with it. It doesn’t bother me at all.”

Cano extended his hitting streak with an infield hit and drove in a run with a slow grounder as the Mariners won, 6-3.

The Mariners’ fans barely know Cano. He will be a hero forever there if he can lead Seattle to its first World Series, but that still seems far-off. He is there for the long haul, though, with a contract three years longer than the best the Yankees offered.

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Before his first game against his former team, Cano said about Seattle: “I’m happy there, the way they’ve embraced me.”CreditBarton Silverman/The New York Times

That figure is so well known that even Joe Girardi, the Yankees’ manager, used it on Tuesday when asked about Cano’s December claim that the Yankees did not respect him.

“One hundred and seventy-five million dollars is a lot of money for seven years,” Girardi said. “I think we’ve always respected Robbie Cano and his talents and will continue to respect Robbie Cano and his talents. I think we’ll see that in how we try to pitch to him. We’re not just going to put it right down the middle of the plate.”

Cano walked only eight times in his first 24 games, a pace that would actually equate to fewer walks than he had in either of his last two seasons in New York. Corey Hart, who bats behind Cano, missed all of last season with knee trouble but did hit 30 home runs for Milwaukee in 2012.

So Cano has some protection in the lineup, and other promising hitters in Kyle Seager and Mike Zunino. Two of the Mariners’ better pitching prospects, James Paxton and Taijuan Walker, are hurt, as is the veteran Hisashi Iwakuma, who is nearing his return from a finger injury.

Cano’s durability was an important attribute for Seattle, and something the Yankees miss. Center fielder Ellsbury, who signed for seven years and $153 million, was out of the lineup Tuesday with a sore left hand. Ellsbury is a dynamic talent, but he missed most of the 2010 season and much of the 2012 season to injuries.

As seven-year bets go, Cano is much safer than Ellsbury, who agreed to terms before Cano signed with the Mariners. But the Yankees determined early on that they would not stretch to 10 years for a player already 31 years old. They were burned by such desperation in the Alex Rodriguez negotiations in 2007, and they learned their lesson.

“This is a business,” Cano said. “I can’t control the Yankees; I can control myself. They made a decision, and we’re both happy. I’m happy where I am right now, happy to be a Mariner, and good luck to them.”

That was as close as Cano would come to discussing his contract. He deflected a question about his famous agent, Jay Z, and repeatedly retreated to Mark McGwire mode when asked about his split from the Yankees.

“I don’t want to talk about the past,” Cano said. “I think I leave all those things behind me and just move on and play baseball.”

Superstars routinely change teams in free agency. Cano dug into the batters’ box Tuesday next to Brian McCann, who signed as a free agent, and faced C. C. Sabathia, who did the same. The only thing different about Cano’s departure was that the Yankees found a price point for a homegrown star. Even in a winter when they spent $470 million on new players, they held the line on Cano.

“Robbie Cano is almost in a league of his own when it comes to offense for second basemen,” Girardi said. “But I think it’s the overall offense that you need to find.”

The Yankees are hitting well enough without Cano, and they are in first place. Cano scored an overwhelming contract. Both sides got what they wanted.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B17 of the New York edition with the headline: Cano and the Yankees Are Secure in Their Decisions. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe